The invention relates to cameras having a lens opening or other opening covered by a lens cover/slider and more particularly relates to a camera front panel assembly or other panel assembly with a one-piece lens cover/slider.
Cameras and other handheld devices commonly have cases in which one or more members have openings that are closed by movable covers. With many cameras, a front panel has a lens cover that moves in or out of position to open or close a lens opening. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,295,706; 5,913,089; 4,283,132; 3,942,864 all disclose cameras having movable lens covers. Some of these cameras provide a snap-action in which the lens cover is biased toward open and closed positions and is biased away from intermediate positions between the open and closed positions.
One-time-use cameras are subject to very tight cost constraints and marketed one-time-use cameras have avoided the use of lens covers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,792 discloses the use of an over-center (snap action) mechanism to switch a standard taking lens and a macro lens, but this is a primary functional feature rather than a lens cover. Most of the lens covers in the patents mentioned above have a relatively large number of parts. The multiple steps required to assemble a number of parts add costs, in addition to the costs of the parts themselves. Cameras have been marketed, in which a sliding lens cover is provided by two or three parts, in addition to a front cover panel. In some cases, the cover incorporates an over-center mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,706 discloses a one-piece lens cover-sunshade that fits on the end of a lens barrel. The lens cover-sunshade incorporates an over-center mechanism. A shortcoming is that the one-piece mechanism is assembled from two pieces when it is manufactured.
A further constraint on one-time-use cameras is imposed by recycling processes. Front covers of one-time-use cameras are commonly reused by camera manufacturers in the form of material feedstock. The materials used for parts that remain attached to a front cover after one-time-use camera disassembly are selected with this in mind. For example, printed labels are made of a compatible polymer rather than paper.
It would thus be desirable to provide an improved slider and panel assembly in which the slider is made in one-piece, and is simple and convenient to assemble with the panel and to use.
The invention is defined by the claims. The invention, in its broader aspects, provides a panel assembly that has a slider, which is a one-piece plastic casting. The casting has a closure having a margin and a pair of opposed arms joined to the closure. The arms and closure together have a continuous inner surface and a continuous outer surface. The inner and outer surfaces are opposed and define a thickness dimension. The inner and outer surfaces adjoin the margin. The arms are each resiliently bendable about a respective bending axis. The bending axes are each perpendicular to the inner and outer surfaces.
It is an advantageous effect of the invention that an improved slider and panel assembly are provided, in which the slider is made in one-piece, and is simple and convenient to assemble with the panel and to use.